新标准大学英语综合教程4课后答案内容详解解与答案

综合教程4课后答案

Handouts and Key to book4 unit1-4

Unit 1

Active reading (1)

Looking for a job after university? First, get off the sofa

Background information

About the passage: This is an article by an Education Correspondent,

Alexandra Blair, published in

September 2008 in The Times, a long-established British quality newspaper.

In Europe generally, and in

Britain in particular, for a number of years there has been a rising number

of students who go to university

and therefore more new graduates seeking employment. However, for many

graduates finding a job became

harder in 2008–2009 because the economic downturn – then a recession

– meant that many employers werereducing their workforce. After their

final exams, some students rested in the summer before looking for jobs

and then they found that it was difficult to find employment in their field

or at the level they wanted. The

article addresses the problems of such new graduates who might be stuck

at home and advises their parents

to be there for their children (ie to be available if their children want

to talk about the problem or if they

need help). The article recommends finding work in a bar or supermarket

rather than sitting unemployed

at home since this is more likely to lead to better employment later. The

style is partly of a report, but also

of a humorous comment for light entertainment (seen in the jokey language

and problem-solving advice to

parents).

Why finding a job in 2008 is so difficult for university graduates?

Universities in Europe, particularly in Britain, have expanded greatly

in the last fifteen years (over 45% of

young adults now go on to higher education), so there are more graduates

looking for jobs. This competitive

situation became a lot worse in 2008 onwards with the credit crunch and

economic depression, which meant

that there were fewer jobs available and a rise in unemployment. Thus new

graduates have to be active

to seek a job, they need to fill in many application forms and try to get

job interviews: they won’t find

employment by lying on the sofa at home.

Culture points honours degree: Traditionally, in the British university system, BA and

BSc honours degrees are awarded

in different categories: a first class degree (written using Roman numbers

as I), a second (divided into two

subcategories, written as IIii and IIii, which are called “a two one”

and “a two two”), a third (written III) and

a pass degree. Most people get a second. There are also ordinary degrees

with more general courses of study

without these categories.

Generation Y and Grunt: The main idea here is that there is a succession

of different generations or

cohorts of adults who come into the workforce in North America which are

given different informal names

to characterize them. First, “Baby boomers” were born in the great

increase (the boom) of births after World

War II (1946–1960), followed by “Generation X” people (born 1960–1980)

who were said to bring new

attitudes of being independent, informal, entrepreneurial, and expected

to get skills and have a career before

them. “GenerationY” or the “Millenial Generation” (born 1980s and

1990s and becoming adult in the new

millenium) are now making up an increasing percentage of the workforce;

they are said to be spoilt by doting

parents, to have structured lives, to be used to teamwork and diverse

people in a multicultural society. In

the passage, this generation is now becoming (morphing into) Generation

Grunt, which is an ironic name

referring to repetitive, low status, routine or mindless work – this may

be the only work available to some

graduates, who may have to take very ordinary jobs to get experience before

they find something more

suitable. “Grunt” also refers to coarse behaviour or bad manners and

to the deep sound that is made by a pig;

when people “grunt” they express disgust but do not communicate with

words – this may be how the parents

of new graduates think their children communicate with them!

A comprehensive refers to a British type of secondary school which became

popular in the1960s. Before that

there were academic “grammar schools” and more general “secondary

modern” schools for those who did

not pass the grammar school entrance tests, but the comprehensive schools

were designed for all students in

a social philosophy of bringing diverse students together whether they

were academic or not. Those students